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I though Meyers books were wretched. Her characters were so shallow : Edward loves her because she smells good? That's an deep relationship right there rolleyes ; and their unique character traits were too exagerated: Bella's complete and utter lack of self-preservation- that wench should have died long ago from her own stupidity; the "vampires" abilities were way over the top, I can see some greater-then-human abilities but she's not describing vampires, she's describing gods.

I'd like to point out the Meyers knows nothing of vampires, she even admits this. She has made it a point to stay ignorant about them as well. Her vampires are not vampires they are "Meyer-pires"

She wasn't asking for realism; she was asking for depth. There's a big difference.

And maybe by the end of the book Edward liked Bella for her personality, but if I remember correctly at the beginning he was only attracted to her because she smelled good.

It was a decent book while I was reading it. However, it's not a book that I think I'll ever read again, nor did it particularly make me want to read the sequels. I didn't, and odds are that I'll never get around to them.

I could care less about the preset notions of vampires and other mythical creatures. I like it when people take new takes on things. As such I had no issues with the vampires in Twilight, and have grown attached to the series (not super attached).

Really, the vampire myths are changing rapidly now. I don't think anyone can be an expert because every author now has different views on what their vamps can or can't do. I suppose that one could have an expertise on the classical vampire myths, but those vampires weren't exactly fun...
Yuck to Renfields.

i think that i am going to read the book but if its emo like everyone says it is i am going to be very sad

Many people at school love it, thus I read it to see what all the fuss was about. The characters and the plot were uninteresting and cliche. Not cliche as far as novels go, but like tons of fan fiction story-lines. Honestly, I speculate that Meyer "borrowed" many of her ideas from internet authors. I didn't hate it; it had a few good lines in it:
"How old are you"
"Seventeen."
"How long have you been seventeen."
"A while."
Yes, I didn't despise the book, but - not to offend those of you that enjoyed it - I wouldn't reccomend the tale to anyone that isn't a sappy teenage girl.

I find Minerva's comment about not recommending it to anyone not a sappy teenager funny. My mother, of all people, is the one who threw the first book in my lap and told me to read it. She's going crazier than I am with waiting for the third to be out in paperback.

I suppose its just a matter of tastes. Though yes, Bella is simple sometimes. Then again, isn't everyone at some point?

I liked it. I'm not super obsessed with it, but enough to recommend to someone and watch the movie. And read the fourth book......

It's something new. It's not like the traditional vampire book. Which is interesting.

Although I'm not madly in love with this book, and still like it. There is sometimes parts were i don't care, and I get bored. Like any author they improve in time. And I'm waiting for that to happen with Stephanie Meyer, hopefully that's going to happen in the fourth book.